January 31, 2026 Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

This morning the sky was full of fluffy greyish clouds at 7 a.m. as the ship maneuvered to the dock. The temperature was 18°C, wind north north east 9 km and humidity 93%.

We went to the dining room for breakfast as there was no rush to get tour stickers. We planned to walk to the Classic Flying Aviation Museum. We stopped at the Library Café to give a Thank You card to Jane and left Thank You cards for Slam and Nova, our room stewards, in the stateroom.

Our planned excursion in Tauranga looked interesting, but was cancelled on January 25th. The excursion was to the hiking trails that were damaged on January 22nd when a landslide at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park campsite engulfed and killed six people. The whole park is still closed and the flags in Tauranga are flying at half-mast.

Tauranga is located on the Bay of Plenty, known in Maori as Te Moana-a-Toi, is home to New Zealand's only active marine volcano. The population of Tauranga is about 130,000 residents living in the fifth largest city in New Zealand.

Tauranga is a great jumping-off point for exploring many Maori cultural sites.

Rotorua, nicknamed Sulphur City, is renowned for its geothermal activity, including geysers, hot springs, mud pools and steam vents and has been a major Polynesian spa resort town since visitors first arrived 150 years ago. It is about 65 kilometres away. Other nearby attractions are the Waitomo glowworm caves and a tour to the Hobbiton Movie Set in Matamata, for all Tolkien fans.

Tauranga, means “a sheltered anchorage” or “resting place for canoes,” referring to its natural harbour. The Māori iwi (tribes) have inhabited the area for over 700 years being attracted to its fertile land and abundant seafood as well as the harbour.

By 10 a.m. the clouds were disappearing. We decided to walk the five plus kilometres out toward the airport to visit the Classic Flying Aviation Museum.

Most of the walk was along Maunganui Road one of the main thoroughfares. The walk took about an hour. The museum had restored planes from the 20th century inside a hangar and more colourful planes outside. The exhibits told about the history of the Royal New Zealand Airforce and New Zealand airmen during the first and second world wars and other wars of the past 100 years. ANZAC Day is April 25th to remember the service men and women who died in the wars.

There was an interesting exhibit explaining about the “Dam Buster” planes and bombs used in May 1943. The weather was watched carefully for the Dam Busters Operation “Chastise” for the correct moon phase for the plan to bomb the dams on Germany’s Ruhr and Eder rivers after the rainy season when their capacity was highest. The Ruhr and Eder Valleys were the industrial heart of Germany. The Allies wanted to destroy Germany’s ability to make military weapons and equipment. The Bouncing Dam Buster bomb was Code Named “Upkeep”. The bomber planes from Squadron 617 from RAF base Scampton were alerted May 16, 1943 for the mission which was largely successful. There is a dam buster bomb casing and another giant bomb, the Grand Slam, casing on display at the museum.

There was a display with the feats of woman solo pilot, Jean Batten, a New Zealand aviator, who set many flying records between 1933 and 1937. In 1934 she flew from England to Australia, a distance of 10,500 miles, in 14 days 22 hours and 30 minutes in de Havilland Gipsy Moth G-AARB setting a record. In 1936 she flew from England to New Zealand, 14, 224 miles in 11 days 45 minutes including a stop in Sydney, Australia for 2.5 days. She was flying a Percival Gull Monoplane G-ADPR. The monoplane was requisitioned for war duty and survived.

After an hour at the museum, we walked back to central Tauranga taking a slightly different route back to Maunganui Road. By the time we stopped for ice cream at the Salisbury Wharf at the end of the journey from the museum we had walked another 5.5 km. Back on the ship, after showers, we spent the afternoon in the Library Café organizing photos and notes.

Tonight was our final meal with Ted, Margaret, Sue and Sandie. We said good-bye to our waiters, Karsono and Wahyu and gave them Thank You cards.

Ted, Margaret, Sue and Sandie have the same table assignment for the next 14 day cruise visiting New Zealand then back to Sydney. About 600 passengers are staying on for the next cruise. The Captain’s announcement, during dinner, stated that the distance to Auckland is about 130 nautical miles. It was very hard to hear the announcement as people continued talking and the waiters even sang their birthday song during the captain’s announcement. Usually the captain’s announcement is before dinner and in the bars and casino everyone stops talking to listen.

We all went for coffee as usual to the Library Café then said our good-byes. We returned to our stateroom to pack our suitcases so that they can be put in the hallway and collected so that in the morning they can be sent to the cruise terminal for us to collect and go through Customs and Immigration.

In the morning, we have a ship’s sightseeing tour and airport transfer booked. We meet in the cruise terminal at 7:45 a.m.

Total steps 20,778